The ancient RainWing queen awoke with a start, remembering the words of her seer.
On the brightest night, on the hatching of the queen of rain,
Her throne shall be passed on, but will never speak again.
Tonight.
It'd be tonight.
Queen Glory sat up, missing the warmth of King Deathbringer at her side. If she sat there long enough, she could smell remnants of his scent.
My love, soon I may join you.
The queen tried to go back to sleep, but couldn't. Her mind cycled through the prophecy again and again. Her two dormitory servants noticed her restlessness.
"Your Majesty, are you all right?" one asked.
Queen Glory slowly stood, now assisted by her servants. "I wish to see my husband's grave and the royal hatchery."
The other exchanged a worried glance at the first servant. "Would you like one of your council members or dragonets to join you?"
The queen shook her head. "No, I'd rather be alone."
"As you wish, Your Majesty."
The queen picked up some peacock feathers, then placed them behind her frills. Her servants seemed to notice the weight of the feathers.
"Your Majesty, if I may be so bold as to ask, why peacock feathers? Aren't they for the biannual peace meetings?"
Queen Glory didn't answer her, grabbing a glass earring Peril had made as a gift to the RainWing queen decades ago. It was an anaconda, one of Glory's favorite animals. A favored earring would be nice. With her ancient talons, she wove together a lei of creamy white lilies. It was plain and simple, nothing too special, but enough that she liked it. Yes, this would be enough.
"Thank you for your service to me, Jaguar, Pineapple."
The two servants gave a small bow. "Anytime, Your Majesty," Pineapple added.
The queen made her leave, swooping over the Night-Rain Kingdom below her. The soft glow of moon globes illuminated the Night Village. A few were present in the Rain Village, but considerably not as much. If she were correct, there was a NightWing egg expected to hatch that night. Peacemaker and Ironscales's first egg, the first grandson of her good brother, Starflight, if she remembered correctly.
She reminisced on her brothers and sisters and the lives they led while gliding to the hatchery.
Tsunami recently died fending off an attacker of Jade Mountain. Before her untimely death, she worked as combat teacher for Jade Mountain Academy. The SeaWing royal family, at least the important ones, arrived to give her a SeaWing funeral in her favorite lake beneath the mountain. Glory attended the funeral. It was beautiful. Tsunami would hate it.
Her eldest son, Abyss, went missing decades ago with their father, Riptide. Shame, since he was an animus. Their other son, Azure, remained as a part of the Talons of Peace, within the city of Sanctuary, about to pass it down to his son, Swordfish. Their only daughter, Drift, was accepted into Queen Auklet's court and was expected to take the throne, since Princess Anemone had no heiresses and Auklet's were all defective in one way or another.
Clay lived with Peril in a mountain bordering the Sky Kingdom and Mud Kingdom in a little town called Second Chances. Peril worked as a glassblower, using her firescales to create the most beautiful glassworks any dragon had ever seen. Clay sold her work, making sure the right dragon got the perfect accessory. Dragons from all tribes bartered and commissioned for one of her works, even the current SkyWing queen, Rouge. Their adopted son, Fissure, often helped Peril in her office.
Peril and Clay were the most famous couple in Second Chances, not only for one being a Hero of Destiny and the other being a rare firescales mutation, but for their adoption of a clutch of half-SkyWing, half-MudWing dragonets. Their SkyWing mother had died and their MudWing father remained a mystery. The two had decided to raise the clutch as their own. Fissure worked with Peril, Archeopteryx, their other son, took over Tsunami's teaching role in Jade Mountain, and Sparks, their only daughter, worked in Second Chances' orphanage, spreading the same love her adoptive parents had shown to her.
Starflight and Fatespeaker refurbished the ancient NightWing library, helping historians figure out Pyrrhia's ancient history. They had four dragonets in total: Strategist, their mindreading son who helped the Moonrise Project in the Old Night Kingdom; Ironscales, the Night Village's blacksmith with the palest of gray scales a NightWing had, but she had the sturdiest and strongest of all; Truthful, who assisted his parents in Jade Mountain Academy; and their littlest daughter, Sunseeker, who was likely named after Sunny, and also had her sweet, loving personality.
The aforementioned Sunny worked as Head of Jade Mountain, occasionally visiting her half-sisters and half-nieces in the SandWing capitol. She never married, nor did she have any dragonets. "My students are my dragonets," she once said in a speech Glory attended. She did somewhat adopt a little SandWing that she practically raised. The abandoned SandWing mostly followed Sunny around until the two became pretty much family. Since she had no name, Sunny named her Beetle. Beetle was expected to take over the academy after Sunny's passing.
And the RainWing queen herself? She ruled her dragons in an age of peace. She married Deathbringer when she turned ten and their first clutch came not long after that. In total, they had seven dragonets, five sons and two daughters. The sons were Dignity, Charming, Passion, Valor, and Honor. The daughters were Lovely and Ornate. All helped in the Night-Rain Kingdom in various ways, helping the two tribes bind together. Of her daughters, Glory expected Ornate to take the crown, since Lovely wasn't queenly enough to rule the kingdom.
As Queen Glory landed at the royal hatchery, she saw their last egg. Deathbringer didn't know of it, since he died before she knew she was with egg. The dark purple egg was nestled in a patch of moonlight, ready to hatch within a few hours. Part of her wanted her daughter to hatch with the gifts of the three moons, but the other half of her reminded her that no half-NightWing with the NightWing as the father had the moon-gifted powers; the NightWing had to be the mother in order for the powers to manifest in the dragonets.
"Are you all right, Mom?" Princess Lovely asked, materializing beside the egg in the moonlight.
The queen nodded. "Yes, I'm fine. I just need some time to think."
The Night-RainWing princess looked at the egg. "Have you thought of some names?"
"Yes, I'd like her to be named Grandeur, after my great-grandmother."
Lovely stroked the egg. "The NightWing dragonet hatched. They're going to call her Miracle."
The queen sighed. "Send her parents a gift of fruit and flowers. Mostly strawberries. Peacemaker would love that."
"Yes, Momma," Lovely said, dipping her head. She studied her mother's face, her brows furrowing. "Are you all right? Really, Mom, I mean it."
Glory held her daughter's gaze, then looked at the egg. "I miss your father."
Lovely stood, then wrapped her wings around Glory. "I miss him too."
Her daughter's love touched her heart, striking the spot where Deathbringer's love once was. It hurt, but it felt needed, like ointment on a wound. Glory tried to stuff down the emotion, but it grew too powerful. It needed to happen. It seized her heart...
And she cried for Deathbringer on the shoulder of their daughter. Lovely stroked her mother's head, trying to assure her with quiet whispers of, "I miss him too, Mom..."
"I'm going to see him again," Glory said after she calmed down. "And... Is being queen something you'd like to do?"
Lovely shook her head. "No, Ornate's much more into that. I think she'll be a better queen than I ever will."
The RainWing queen nodded. "All right, then."
"Why do you ask?"
She shrugged. "I'd just like to know. I am getting old and all."
Lovely nodded. "I love you, Mom."
Glory looked back, then smiled. "I love you too, Lovely."
She took off to the graveyard just beyond the Night Village. There was a graveyard on the western end of the Night Village, but she went to the one south of it. That graveyard only had one occupant, as it was fairly new. Kinkajou's SeaWing friend enchanted the large clearing to be a memorial for heroes buried there. The SeaWing, a green dragon about Kinkajou's age, called it "The Heroes' Rest". In the center was Deathbringer's memorial.
Queen Glory landed in the grassy clearing, right in front of the hedge that stood over her husband's body. It was a part of the enchantment, grown from the single orchid seed placed in Deathbringer's talons. When the last talonful of dirt had been placed over him, the orchid stems grew into a frame similar to the Night-RainWing king. Within a few hours, the plant had grown into a full bush of black orchid flowers in the image of Deathbringer. The animus-touched clearing made the shrub perfect, capturing his warm smile and relaxed demeanor.
It was uncanny...almost unnerving.
It seemed as if he was standing right there, only needing to wrap his wings around his wife and say something foolish to have her shoot him down, like old times.
But he wasn't here.
He was dead.
Several feet beneath the queen's talons.
"My love... Sometimes I wish that star struck me instead of you. I wish you didn't play the hero. I wish you died in sleep beside me rather than leaving me here to suffer without you."
She looked into the flowers over his eyes, a shallow facade compared to his deep, captivating gaze.
Queen Glory yanked a fistful of flowers from his poised talons and tossed them aside.
"You aren't Deathbringer. You're just a...a...poor dragon's fantasy. Not the dragon I love."
She let her emotions paint her scales dark shades of purple and gray like their dragonets.
With her sharp hearing, the queen heard wings brushing against leaves. She didn't move, only staring at Deathbringer's flowery talons.
I'll make him think I haven't noticed him yet.
Near-silent talonsteps approached the queen from behind. When she assumed he was right behind her, she spoke.
"On the brightest night, on the hatching of the queen of rain―" she sensed the assassin pause behind her with piqued interest "―her throne shall be passed on, but will never speak again." Queen Glory turned to see a NightWing she didn't recognize standing in the bright light of the three moons. "You're here to fulfill that prophecy, aren't you?"
The NightWing stared at her as if she were insane, but nodded anyway.
The queen sighed. "I have a bit of a dilemma here. My instincts tell me to whip around and shoot a small, but powerful bit of venom in your eyes and kill you here, but I have nothing really to live for. I've ruled my tribe and yours well, which baffles me as to why you, a NightWing, wish me dead."
The NightWing stared at her, a dagger in his talon. Glory noticed the bright moonlight catching silver scales by the corners of his eyes.
"You're a mindreader."
"Yes."
"That wasn't a question."
He didn't respond.
"What are you thinking about what's in here?" The queen touched her temple with her wing.
After a moment, he stopped looking beyond her eyes and looked into her eyes. "You're...rather depressing."
She sighed. "I guess after my husband's death, I realized I needed someone blindly in love with me to sass daily."
The NightWing lowered his gaze. "I'm sorry about your husband."
"Were you the one who threw that star?"
He shook his head. "I don't know her, though. I think her name was Deadeye, though."
"Hmm. That little hoodlum. She went missing a while ago, yes?"
"She drowned―or rather, someone drowned her. In the river just beyond the Night Village."
The RainWing queen shifted her weight to sit more comfortably. "Other than NightWing parents not raising their half-brained lizards right, my tribes have been peaceful under my reign. But I can see through you that the NightWings are a bit restless with me."
The NightWing lowered his wings, but said nothing.
"So right now, here and now, I have two options. I can either kill you right now and continue to live my life with subjects who don't want me in power or allow you to kill me and be with my beloved." Queen Glory turned back to the memorial shrub and sighed. "The latter option seems quite appealing right now."
The NightWing remained silent, then circled around to Glory's side by Deathbringer's extended wing.
Glory traced a claw down his neck, imagining his warmth emanating from the petals. "If you are to kill me, I have only two requests I want you to fulfill."
The NightWing looked up at her, his dark eyes seeming the slightest bit worried.
"First, I want to know your name."
He looked away from her, fascinated by a bug crawling on the ground by his talons. "I won't say."
"Second..." The queen took his chin in her claws and lifted her gaze to his. His eyes radiated youth, in all its stupid, blissful, frightening glory. This dragonet had to be no more than seven years old. "Make it swift."
The NightWing stared at her with wide eyes, but still remained silent.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, he said, "Fate."
The queen lowered her talon. She angled her face in a questioning manner, silently asking him to speak.
"My name is Fate."
Queen Glory laughed a little, the tips of her wings and frills turning pale pink. "I've met Fate... Fate has found me... How amusing is that."
Fate lowered his gaze. "You want me to kill you, right?"
"Do you want me dead?"
He briefly met her gaze again, then dropped it as he stared at the dagger in his talons. "Yes."
Glory sighed. "Then so be it. As I said before, make it swift."
She stared up at the three full moons, the same three moons she was born under a hundred years ago. She reminisced on her life, the good and the bad. She thought of her loved ones, the remaining and the departed. She reflected on her reign, the mountains and valleys.
She closed her eyes.
And the blade slit her throat.
When the splinter of pain had gone, she opened them again.
And there was Deathbringer in his warmest of smiles.